


Medusa

by mediocrityatbest



Series: Medusa Au [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Medusa - Freeform, Unsure, but the other two aren't actually in the story, dukeceit, i always type that wrong on my first try, i don't plan on making a follow-up anyway, interpret it however you want dude, mentioned brotherly roman-virgil-remus, pre-romantic?, tumblr req, uhhh, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24298282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mediocrityatbest/pseuds/mediocrityatbest
Summary: Remus really just wanted a bite to eat. He hadn't been expecting to find a living myth.
Relationships: Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit Sanders
Series: Medusa Au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858195
Comments: 6
Kudos: 144





	Medusa

Remus was stalking the night-or, more accurately, he was stalking the man creeping around in the night. People who snuck around at night in dark clothes and kept looking over their shoulder were generally bad people and, therefore, fair game.

You know, according to the rules that Roman and Virgil said they had to follow so they wouldn’t be caught or whatever. Who cares if they got caught? Any one of the three of them could get out without even trying. It didn’t  _ matter _ .

But Remus would never intentionally do something that got his brothers in trouble or hurt when they didn’t want to be. Which unfortunately meant he was only going to attack people that they deemed ‘safe.’

Like this guy, who was obviously trying (and failing) to coast through the shadows like some kind of two-bit vampire. Nobody did that but shady people and vampires.

Which, to be fair, Remus was arguably both. (Did he technically count as a person who had to adhere to a person’s morals if he was an undead bloodsucker?)

Anyway, this guy was ducking in and out of deadend alleys like a drunk rat and that was just asking for a hungry vampire to stop him for a bite.

Remus was all too happy to oblige.

He’d been tracking the man for the better part of three nights to make sure his brothers wouldn’t stake him through the heart because he accidentally ate an innocent again. He hadn’t seen this man do anything explicitly illicit, but all this shadiness was close enough. (Even if Remus was a little intrigued now, to know what the man was doing.)

He followed the man into the next alley and turned down and scuffed his feet across the concrete to alert his prey. He did like a little bit of fear; it made the blood taste sweeter. The man paused, tensing, and Remus scented the air. Curious, but not scared.

Yet.

“Hello, little one,” he purred, stalking forward, making himself seem bigger with the shadows. “What  _ are _ you up to?”

“Something of your concern,” the man said without turning.

“What’s your name?” he asked. He paused, just watching. He was very interested in this person, and he wanted to see how the man would answer.

“Janus Dante  Ophiuchus. May I ask after yours?” The words sounded forced, but Remus was more focused on the words than the tone.

“You could,” Remus said, “but it won’t matter. You’ll be dead before you can use it.”  His arms shifted and Remus was behind him in a second, spinning him to slam his back into the wall.

“Ah ah ah,” he sang, watching the knife Janus had been trying to pull clatter farther down the alley. “I don’t think that’s a nice toy to play with.”

“I really think you want to do this,” he said, and now his scent was laced with regret more than fear.

Curiouser and curiouser, wasn’t it?

Remus would retrace his steps once he drained this guy, and then see if he’d missed something. What’s got him not fearing death or muggers but feeling regret so strongly he can smell it?

“I really do. Ready to die?” Remus asked sweetly and opened his mouth as wide as he could to showcase his fangs. He waited for fear to permeate the alley, for Janus to tremble in his grip or maybe even—if he was lucky—wet his pants. But nothing happened.

“What the fudge?” Remus said, immediately followed by, “Damnit, Patton!” Fuming now, both because he’d said  _ what the fudge _ and because his prey wasn’t  _ scared of him _ , he snapped, “Why aren’t you afraid of me?”

“What’s to fear?” Janus said, nonchalantly, as though Remus wasn’t mere inches from killing him. “A few pointy teeth and moving fast? How useful will that be when you can’t move at all?” He ripped his hood off, staring Remus directly in the face.

Now, what Remus noticed first was this asshole already had pointy teeth of his own! The next thing he saw were the beautiful, gilded scales crawling up his face, and then his one gold-one brown eyes. Then, and only then, did he notice the dreads moving in the breeze.

When the man just kept staring at him, shocked, Remus realized those weren’t dread. They were very alive, very sentient snakes coming out of his scalp.

“Well,” the Snake-man Janus choked out. “You’re certainly turning to stone.”

“Holy fucking shit,” he said. “That is so fucking cool.” The snakes hissed at him, some edging closer and some leaning as far from him as they could get. Mesmerized, Remus leaned lifted his hand off the collar of his shirt to touch the snakes. The boldest of them pressed into his hand like they wanted to be pet. It made his breath catch. He hadn’t expected them to be so soft.

However, that lapse cost him. Snake-man Janus brought his knee up right into Remus’ stomach. Remus fell back and the snakes hissed angrily as his hand ripped away. The snake-man sprinted down the alley, donning his hood as he went, and disappeared around the corner.

Remus recovered within a few seconds and took off in pursuit. He wished he was angry, but really he was  _ excited _ . He’d found a real life Medusa! Virgil was going to be so pissed he hadn’t come out hunting tonight.

He trailed the man’s scent all the way down the street and to the next one. He must be moving fast to have put this much distance between them already. The mystery and the chase were only making Remus more determined—and excited—to find out who his snakey guy was and why he was snakey.

Remus caught tSnake-man Janus three streets over, bent over his knees and panting. Remus, who hadn’t broken a sweat, grinned triumphantly.

“Hel-lo, my Snake,” he sang, walking up and sitting down right beside him. He tried to duck under the snake-man’s legs so he could see into his hood and get another glimpse of those snakes. Janus kicked him and, deciding to humor him, Remus rolled dramatically down the alley, moaning about dying. Snake-man Janus snorted, even though he tried to cover it up with a cough.

“Hey, is your tongue forked or what?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he said. Remus pouted.

“Are your scales smooth or slimy? Do you shed? Are you venomous?” He bounced up and careened back to where Snake-man Janus had finally caught his breath. “How’d you get to be part snake? Can I be part snake?”

“Not smooth, no, absolutely your business, I wasn’t cursed by a Goddess, and yes, you can.” He shoved Remus’ hands away from his face.

“Cursed?” Remus said. “I’ve never met anybody who was cursed before.”

“You’re literally not a vampire,” Snake-man Janus said, deadpan. He stared at Remus. Remus stared back.

“Yes I am?” he asked. He’d been doing this vampire business for a few centuries now, but maybe he’d been wrong about it. He hadn’t believed that celery was real for two hundred years and look how that had turned out.

“Part of my curse isn’t that I can only lie,” he said, very slowly, like Remus wouldn’t be able to understand.

“How was I supposed to know that?” he demanded, followed immediately by, “Can I have the skin you shed? I could make a hat.” Janus looked outright disgusted by the notion, so Remus tucked the idea away for later consideration. He’d get that shed skin somehow.

“Yes, that doesn’t disgust me at all.” Snake-man Janus sighed. “Are you going to quit chasing me?”

“Nope,” Remus said. “You’re the coolest person I have ever met, and I’ve been alive for a while. You wouldn’t be able to keep me away with garlic or a rosary.” He grinned, a little deranged, and stuck his hand into Snake-man Janus’ hood before he could react. A few of the snakes instantly rubbed his hand, demanding petting. Remus scratched at their little heads and Janus sighed, his own head tipping sideways before he snapped back upright and jerked away. Angry hissing emanated from under his hood.

“I think you’re making the babies angry,” he said.

“Have you ever heard of personal space?” Snake-man Janus snapped, one hand coming up to shush his hair snakes.

“I was once shoved into a one person coffin with both of my brothers because a bunch of locals thought we were going to turn them all. I no longer  _ believe _ in personal space,” Remus said proudly. Janus stared, dumbfounded.

“What damn century was that?”

“1700s, maybe?” Remus shrugged. “We left and never went back.”

“Well,” Janus said. “The sun won’t rise eventually, you know. You don’t want to be inside before that happens.”

“You should come back with me. They’re not much fun in the day, but my brothers would lose their shit if they met you.”

“I am a circus attraction,” he said, voice dark.

“Of course not! I once killed an entire circus, I won’t stand for that!” Remus crossed his arms, pissed to even be thinking about that place. Then he shrugged it off and grinned. “We freaks have to stick together, you know. My younger brother is even dating a werewolf. No standards, if you ask me.”

“What exactly do you consider standards?”

“Scales and a forked tongue, for one.” Remus looked hopefully at Snake-man Janus, who sighed. He looked up at Remus.

“Let’s not go to your house, then.” He shook his head, like he couldn’t believe what he was doing. Remus couldn’t either. “But I am definitely making promises about anything.”

“Promises are too easy to break,” Remus said. “Blood pacts, on the other hand…”

“Absssolutely!” Snake-man Janus shrieked. Remus laughed and cast an eye to the lightening sky.

“”If I carry you on my shoulder and run, we’ll probably make it back.”

“Probably?” he said. “Probably!”

“Ready to have some fun, snakey?”

Janus flicked his tongue,  _ definitely  _ forked, at Remus and smiled. “No.” Remus threw him over a shoulder and ran, laughing.


End file.
